WahlheYmatPost - Diverse voices tell the complete truth.

WahlheYmatPost — Understand How To Berlin

Weekly guide for Berlin’s international community

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This is a cooperation with Berliner Morgenpost. You can subscribe to their newsletters here.

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Humans of Berlin

From Kyiv to Berlin: War Changed His Path, but Not His Dream

At 15, Oleksandr Drevytskyi left Kyiv with his mother and their dog Ozzy after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In Berlin, he found himself navigating a new language, a new school system and an uncertain future. Four years later, he is studying mathematics at Humboldt University – and helping other Ukrainians find their own way through the city.

September 24, 2026
Opinion Corner StimmlosTrend

The Berlin Election Is Over – The Work Begins

Berlin has voted – but for WahlheYmat, the bigger question is what happens next. We look at three takeaways from the election and outline two priorities for the years ahead: bringing international Berliners’ interests onto the political agenda and building a stronger coalition for civic participation.

September 24, 2026
Humans of Berlin

Strangers by the Spree: Inside Berlin’s Outdoor Latin Dance Community

Just a few hundred metres from Berlin Central Station, strangers meet by the Spree to dance salsa and bachata together. Drawing on her own experience of joining the crowd, Borbála Hanna Dévai explores how Berlin’s outdoor Latin dance scene brings together people of different ages, backgrounds and professions.

September 17, 2026
StimmlosTrend

StimmlosTrend 2026: 96 Percent Would Vote If They Could

The final results of WahlheYmat’s StimmlosTrend are in. They show a striking willingness to participate among international Berliners without voting rights – but also widespread concern about the city’s future and a strong sense of having little influence over it.

September 10, 2026
Opinion Corner

Who Will Lead Germany Into Its International Future?

Germany is becoming more international, while its political structures remain rooted in the nation-state. What can Charles de Gaulle’s extraordinary story teach us about leadership, persistence and the courage to rethink the status quo?

September 3, 2026
Opinion Corner

A Mayor Tandem for Berlin

What if Berlin’s nearly one million residents without a vote had their own representative at the very top of the city? A second mayor, working alongside the elected Regierende Bürgermeister, could give international Berliners a visible voice in how the city is shaped. A radical idea? Perhaps. But in a city where roughly one in four residents cannot vote in state elections, it may be time to rethink what political representation can look like.

August 27, 2026
Mark Your Calendar Guide Berlin StimmlosTrend

No German Passport? You May Still Have a Vote in Berlin

Around 240,000 non-German EU citizens are eligible to vote in Berlin’s district elections on September 20. A new series of multilingual events aims to explain how the election works – and how EU citizens can help shape the neighbourhoods they call home.

August 20, 2026
Humans of Berlin Community Spotlight

“Berlin taught me to dislike the word integration”

Berlin was the city that changed everything for Marilena Chatziantoniou. After more than two decades working in humanitarian aid around the world, she founded Just-Go-For-It to help people recognise opportunities rather than obstacles. In this interview, she explains why she rejects the word “integration”, why community matters more than bureaucracy, and why she believes participation is something we choose every single day.

July 16, 2026
Opinion Corner

What is Germany’s greatest asset?

Germany doesn’t need to become more German. It needs to become better at turning its greatest asset—its reputation as an open, reliable, and innovative country—into a magnet for people and ideas from around the world.

July 9, 2026
Humans of Berlin Community Spotlight

Migrants With Degrees Are Not What Germany Is Looking For

As state-funded German courses become harder to access, many migrants are left trapped between limited language skills and low-income jobs. At the Lohana Berkins Center in Berlin, Darío Farcy and his team are trying to break this cycle through free education, solidarity, and community organizing inspired by Latin American grassroots movements.

June 11, 2026
Guide Berlin The Intentional Berliner

The Power of Ehrenamt: Finding Connection Through Volunteering in Berlin

When the world feels heavy and isolating, one of the best ways to push back is simple: help someone else. In his latest piece, Walter Phippeny reflects on volunteering in Berlin — from washing dishes at the Bahnhofsmission to helping out at Give Something Back to Berlin — and discovers how Ehrenamt can offer both purpose and belonging in a city that often feels too big and too fast.

November 6, 2025
Opinion Corner

Six Pictures from the Future — A Glimpse into Tomorrow’s Berlin

This week marks the launch of the WahlheYmatPost campaign — and we want to give you an insider’s look behind the scenes. We hope you’ll convince everyone around you to subscribe to WahlheYmatPost!

November 6, 2025
Community Spotlight

Giving Voice to Eastern European Migrants: The Polnischer Sozialrat’s Work for Equality

Dr. Kamila Schöll-Mazurek leads one of Germany’s oldest Polish migrant organizations, offering crucial support to Eastern Europeans navigating Berlin’s complex bureaucracy. In this interview, she discusses why nearly half of Germany’s migrants remain invisible in public discourse, how recent political rhetoric has deepened social divisions, and what it takes to turn academic research into real-world change for thousands of people seeking equality and recognition.

October 30, 2025
Opinion Corner

“Berlin Modern” — Is This the Modern Berlin?

Berlin is building another cultural landmark — the vast and gleaming Berlin Modern. But as cranes rise over the Kulturforum, a deeper question emerges: what kind of spaces does our city truly need? Ivan Gabor reflects on Berlin’s obsession with museums and imagines something different — a living, shared house for the people, a HeymatHaus where belonging itself could be built.

October 30, 2025
Guide Berlin The Intentional Berliner

Welcome to the Club: How Vereine Can Turn Berlin from a City of Strangers into a Home

Twenty-five years after Bowling Alone warned of fading community life, the problem feels more urgent than ever. In Berlin, newcomers often struggle to find belonging amid the city’s famous aloofness — yet Germany’s culture of Vereine, from choir groups to hacker clubs, holds a timeless antidote. For one Berliner-by-choice, joining a gaming Verein didn’t just improve his German — it gave him a home.

October 22, 2025
Community Spotlight

“Civil Courage Begins in Everyday Life – and Ends Where We Look Away” – Diana Henniges on 12 Years of Moabit hilft

Since 2013, Moabit hilft e.V. has stood for hands-on support and lived civil courage. Founder Diana Henniges explains how a spontaneous neighborhood initiative became a lasting movement – and why looking away is never an option.

October 22, 2025
Guide Berlin

Bürgerbeteiligung: Participation or Paperwork?

Ivan Gabor

October 15, 2025
Guide Berlin The Intentional Berliner

“Darth Vader speaks Amtssprache”: The Chilling Poetry of German Bureaucracy

Between the menace of Darth Vader’s diction and the cold formality of a German official letter lies the same force: Amtssprache, the bureaucratic language that can make even ordinary correspondence feel like a summons from the Empire. In this essay, Walter Phippeny dissects how Germany’s administrative speech—precise, impersonal, and eerily poetic—turns everyday life into a linguistic duel between citizen and state.

Walter Phippeny

October 15, 2025
Guide Berlin The Intentional Berliner

The Kiez: Where Berlin Becomes Personal

Berliners love to talk about their Kiez — a word that means much more than just “neighborhood.” It’s a slice of the city that feels like home, defined not by borders on a map but by the places and people you know by heart. Walter Phippeny explores what makes the Kiez such a deeply personal part of Berlin life.

Walter Phippeny

October 9, 2025
Community Spotlight

From Budapest to Berlin: “The biggest change for me was this strong sense of locality”

After years of human rights work in Hungary, Balázs Dénes moved to Berlin. He reflects on how leaving home reshaped his life, what participation means, and how local communities can turn a city into a home.

Michaela Vas

October 8, 2025
Guide Berlin

What does the Bezirksamt actually do, and why should you care?

October 2, 2025
Mark Your Calendar

Neustart Berlin: New Ideas for a City at a Standstill

Berlin is searching for ways out of its permanent state of crisis – from housing shortages and traffic congestion to an overburdened administration. With the concept conference “Neustart Berlin”, taking place on November 21 at the EUREF Campus, fresh ideas and concrete proposals will show how the capital can get moving again.

October 1, 2025

Diverse voices tell the complete truth.

WahlheYmatPost — Understand How To Berlin

Weekly guide for Berlin’s international community

Quick stories, local events, and ways to take part, right in your inbox — made with Berliner Morgenpost.

Your data matters to us — see our privacy policy.

This is a cooperation with Berliner Morgenpost. You can subscribe to their newsletters here.

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